Member Since: 11/11/2009
Posts: 4,457
|
Why is 'BEYONCÉ' still praised a year after the surprise?
It's been an ongoing discussion on ATRL on whether 'BEYONCÉ' was just praised because of the surprise release, or because it was actually a great album. Now it's been just over a year since the release and many publications are gathering the best releases of the year. Are these people still in shock because of the surprise, or do they actually think the album is great, apart from the release strategy?
New York Times, December 11, 2014
Quote:
|
An ambush that landed after last year’s tabulations, Beyoncé's tour de force — a lustrous showcase of soulful dominion, sleek production, sensual abandon and feminist agency, not always in that order — kept its relevance during a long year swollen with distractions. The singing, like the attitude, is phenomenally assured yet full of nuance; the message is complicated but clear. It’s high-wire pop that refuses to pander.
|
x
NPR, December 12, 2014
Quote:
|
The 33-year-old powerhouse set every standard by which pop music and celebrity are judged. The self-titled album she released in late 2013 continued to outshine whatever followed in the mainstream — even Taylor Swift's November blockbuster 1989, which while more commercially successful and as critically embraced, still didn't feel like the same kind of paradigm-shifter. Beyoncé's songs and accompanying videos worked as art, as confession, as street music, as showbiz, as social commentary, as pure fun.
|
x
VIBE, December 2, 2014
Quote:
|
Beyonce’s best album is also her most well-rounded. There are the grown-up ballads of 4, trendiness and turn-up tunes a la B’Day, and all-girl-power-everything. All hail the Queen Bey!
|
x
|
|
|
|
even Bionic is praised to this day .
